Rip Current
Authors: Jill Sanders
Rip Current
~ Grayton Series ~
Cole & Wendy
© 2015 Jill Sanders
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Cole is used to fame and has had his fill of women who fall at his feet, but the one woman he desires the most shows nothing but
disdain
for him and his reckless ways.
Wendy can’t stand Cole, at least in her head. Her body and heart, on the other hand, desire him beyond anything else.
Rip Current
by
Jill Sanders
Prologue
Wendy leaned against the bar and sighed. She tried not to let her eyes wander to where her new boss’s three brothers stood watching people walk in the front door. It was grand opening day of the Boardwalk Bar and Grill, and she felt a shiver of nerves run up her spine. But it had nothing to do with the crowd of people she heard waiting outside. No, the cause of all of her anxiety stood just a few feet away in cut-off jean shorts, a teal green tank top, and the most worn-out pair of flip-flops she’d ever seen.
His hair was blond and, unlike his brothers’ darker locks, he kept his long and unkempt. In fact, he didn’t look anything like the other two men crowded around him.
The doors opened, and the trio stood watching women in small bikinis walk into the restaurant. All three of them had grins on their faces as they slowly sipped on drinks.
If there’s one thing she’d learned bartending the last few years, it’s that what a person drank said a lot about them. For example, Marcus, the oldest of the three boys, leaned against the wall sucking down a Bud Light. The beer meant he was a hard worker and appreciated just having a cold, cheap beer slide down his throat. His dark hair was messy and his clothes looked like he had worn them while he’d been sawing and painting.
Roman, the middle of the three, stood with his back straight and his eyes taking in everything. He was wearing a suit and tie but he still stared at every blonde woman who walked in the door. For him, it was a tall Guinness. He was used to nice things and didn’t mind working hard to get them.
Cole. She sighed when her eyes roamed over the blond god of her dreams, who was leaning lazily against a chair as he joked with his brothers. Most men would be self-conscious to be holding a fruity drink with an umbrella in it. Not Cole. Piña coladas were all he’d ordered since she’d first met him days before the opening. Which meant he was comfortable with who he was.
It was no wonder that every woman who walked in the door zeroed in on him. After all, the man was plastered on billboards all over the world. Half-naked, no less. And not only was Cole Grayton a famous surfer-slash-model, he was sexy as hell.
It annoyed Wendy that Cole
got
all the attention from the ladies without even trying.
Over the next few hours, she was the busiest she’d ever been. When Alan whizzed by her and flipped a bottle in two quick turns, cheers erupted from a small group of women sitting at the bar. She smiled over at him and shook her head. He smiled back at her and winked as he tossed a bottle behind his back and caught it in front of him to even more cheers.
“
Show off,” she murmured as she finished building a Guinness.
When Cassey had made her bar manager, the first thing she’d done was hire on her best friend from the last two years. Alan was the best bartender she’d worked with and a good friend from her last job just down the coast. Together, they were the best bartending team along the Emerald Coast.
“
You going to watch him all night or get me another drink, sweetheart?”
She turned and her entire body stiffened. Cole leaned against the bar, smiling at her with his perfect teeth. She felt as if her feet were suddenly glued to the floor.
She couldn’t stop the frown from growing on her lips as she looked at him. He was too perfect. No man should ever be given this much power over women. Ever.
“
I would have thought that you’d have a row of women offering to buy you your girlie drinks.” She turned and pushed the Guinness towards the owner. The glass slid down the bar and landed perfectly in the hands of Cole’s brother, who smiled and winked back at her. She liked Roman and Marcus. It was hard not to. But Cole…she felt that familiar flutter rush down her legs just thinking his name. Cole did something to her that she wasn’t ready to own up to just yet.
He chuckled and leaned a little closer. “Are you offering?”
She closed her eyes and sighed. “Buddy, wrong tree.” She turned and started building his frou-frou drink. Not that she had anything against piña coladas; hell, she would suck a few down tonight if she wasn’t working.
When she turned to hand him his drink, she stopped. He’d been staring at her. Not just looking, but staring. Hard. Instantly, her legs felt weak and her heart did a quick somersault in her chest. Damn, she was going to have to watch herself around this guy.
Setting his drink down, he tried to toss a bill on the bar. She shoved it back in his hand. “You’re the boss’s brother.” She nodded to where Cassey stood on a small landing, overlooking everything. “She’ll have my head if you pay me.”
Cole smiled. “I don’t take you for the kind of person who is afraid of anything.”
She pasted on her best smile and leaned closer to him. She watched his eyes zero in on her ample chest and felt a little self-reward. “Big boy, I’m not afraid of men who drink piña coladas.” She leaned back and watched his smile grow.
“
That’s because you’ve never been with a man who knows what he likes and isn’t afraid to take it.” He winked and then slowly made his way back to his brothers, who had taken over the largest booth near the back. She frowned as she noticed that it was now filled with single women who, no doubt, were all fighting to see who would get to go home with the famous Cole Grayton.
She couldn’t stop herself from watching him go or from dreaming, for just a moment, about what it would be like.
Three years later…
C
ole walked into his sister’s bar and winced. Even though it had been almost a year since his motorcycle accident, he still felt pain shooting up his hip when he stood for too long. Not even his family knew about this new predicament. They’d been told about the broken collarbone and arm at the hospital. His hip hadn’t started hurting until weeks after he’d laid his bike down thanks to the cab driver who’d flipped a U-turn right in front of him.
He winced again at the pain and decided he couldn’t get off his feet fast enough. Making a beeline towards the bar, he frowned when he noticed Wendy wasn’t behind it. Instead, busy as always, was the man he was the most jealous of in life.
Walking over, he propped his bad hip up on the stool and waited until Alan walked over to him.
“
Your usual?”
He shook his head. “No, give me a shot of Jameson.”
“
Bad day?” Alan leaned against the bar and looked at him.
He nodded. “You could say that.”
What did Wendy see in the guy? Sure, most people would probably think he was good looking; he’d heard a lot of women say how much the guy looked like Vin Diesel. Alan certainly had more muscles than Cole did, at least at the moment. He frowned a little and thought about using some of his brother’s weights when he got back home.
Alan was an ex-marine, which gave the guy an extra boost around the women. He was always entertaining them with stories of his time in the service. Is that what Wendy liked about the guy? They were always laughing and flirting with each other.
“
Want a chaser with that?” Alan turned to grab a glass and looked over his shoulder at Cole. “I just made a new batch of Bushwacker.”
Cole sighed. He couldn’t turn down his favorite chocolaty drink. “Sure.” He scooted up onto the stool and almost moaned when the weight was lifted from his hip. His arm and collarbone had healed quickly with no side effects, but he wondered if he’d damaged his hip beyond repair. “Wendy working tonight?” He tried not to glance around the room.
“
Naw, she’s got the weekend off.” Alan glanced at him. “Your sister is upstairs though.” He nodded to the stairs that led up to Cassey’s office.
His sister had taken last month off after marrying Luke Callaway. The two of them had hightailed it to Hawaii for their honeymoon. He’d been a little jealous of them enjoying the waves in the photos they’d sent everyone, so he’d set up a photo shoot for himself off the North Shore.
It had been wonderful—peace and quiet and big waves. But two days into his trip, word had gotten out to the tourists that he was in town. All of a sudden, the beaches were flooded with competitive surfers who wanted to show him up and half-naked girls trying to get his attention, and his quiet time had turned into a circus. He was so bored of it all that he’d packed up and headed home early.
“
Thanks. I’ll wait until she comes down to make her rounds.”
Alan smiled. “Might be a while. Luke showed up just before you did.”
Cole chuckled. “Then I guess it’s a good thing I’m not heading up there.”
Alan laughed and set his drinks in front of him.
“
Where’d she go?” he asked before the man could tend to someone else.
Alan tilted his head in question.
“
Wendy?” he mumbled.
“
Oh, um, she said something about needing a break and heading to her sister’s place close to the Florida-Alabama border.”
Cole nodded and swallowed the Jameson quickly. He was grateful for the chocolate chaser that cleared the sting a little. He swiveled on the stool and glanced around the bar, thinking about Wendy. He hadn’t known she had a sister. He’d known her for over three years now, and he couldn’t list five things about her other than the fact that she caused his heart to race and his libido to skyrocket.
She was the only woman, other than his sister, who hadn’t fallen for his shit. Most women swooned at his feet when they realized who he was. Not Wendy. She’d always been cool and calm, with enough flirt in her to leave him full of desire.
He glanced over at Alan and wondered if the rumors were true about the pair. All his sister every said about her bar manager was that Cole should stay away from her.
Cassey was too loyal. A few minutes later, he chuckled as he watched his sister walk down the stairs, hand in hand with her new husband. Good thing he hadn’t surprised them upstairs. His sister’s hair was loose from its long braid, and Luke had the look of a man who had just gotten everything he’d ever wanted.
Cole sighed and dreamed of the day he would feel something close to that. He’d had plenty of women in the past, but he’d been on a hiatus ever since his motorcycle accident. Something about that day had caused him to pause and look at his life. He’d had plenty of scares in the past, but nothing that had caused his life to flash before his eyes. Even when he’d almost drowned off the southern coast of Africa, he’d never experienced anything like it before.
“
Hey.” Cassey walked up and took the Coke Alan had set down for her.
“
Hey.” He smiled and pulled his sister close and hugged her next to him. “Your shirt’s on inside out.”